LAUSR

Abstract This study examines the possibility that ambush marketers may run the risk of image corruption if consumers correctly discern the true sponsors from the ambush marketers. Further investigated in this study is whether the risks associated with ambush marketing vary by consumer perceptions of corporate reputation. Two experiments, a 2-by-2 and a 2-by-2-by-2 mixed factorial experiments, were conducted to test two sets of hypotheses. A total of 78 and 120 college students were randomly assigned to one of the manipulation conditions in a respective experiment. Dependent variables were attitudes toward the company and the corporate beliefs. Findings indicate that exposure to information on a company’s pseudo sponsorship (i.e., ambush marketing) activities led to more favorable perceptions of the company when a disclosure revealing the true status of the company as an ambush marketer was not available, but the same pseudo sponsorship information led to negative perceptions of the company when such disclosure was available. Furthermore, a highly reputable company, as compared to a less reputable company, was found to encounter greater risks of the corporate perceptions worsening by the company being correctly recognized as an ambush marketer. Overall, the findings suggest that ambush marketers can incur serious damage to the consumer perceptions of the company when consumers correctly recognize the ambush marketer status, and that the magnitude of the damage tends to be greater for companies with high reputations than low reputations. This study contributes to the sponsorship literature by establishing conditions under which ambush marketing is detrimental for a company, and how corporate reputation plays a moderating role. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.